The Secret Nordic Garden
by Red Nightmare14
Summary: After losing his brothers and being shipped off to Sweden, Emil Steilsson is terribly lonely. Living in his uncle's gloomy mansion, he has nobody. Until he learns of a secret garden somewhere in the grounds that his uncle won't allow anyone to enter. Then, one day, Emil uncovers an old key that opens a hidden door… Fourth in my Classic Hetalia series.
1. Alone

**A/N: I had the idea for this fic back when I began ****_Arthur Kirkland_****, but I couldn't decide which cast of characters to do. Still, I love this book. The next few editions of ****_Classic Hetalia_**** are based on my favourite classic novels. **

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Emil Steilsson was a quiet child. Everybody said so. He had a little thin face, a little thin body, thin white hair and a neutral expression on his face. But this was not Emil's fault.

He was born in Iceland, where his parents died and he was put in the care of his brother and his husband, who lived in Denmark. His brother was a handsome man, but was often working, and his brother-in-law liked to have parties and socialise with friends when he should have been taking care of Emil. He usually left the servants to look after Emil. Emil grew cold and spoilt, typical of a child who always had their way.

One morning, when Emil was sixteen years old, he woke up feeling rather upset. He was even more upset when his hemsire, or babalik depending on how he was feeling that day, didn't come to see him.

'Something must be going on,' Emil thought.

During the entirety of that day, and the next, everybody seemed to have forgotten Emil. He only knew that people were ill and that the house was full of frightening noises. He hid in his room and nobody came to look after him. Once, he crept into the dining room and found it empty, although there was a half-eaten meal on the table. As he was thirsty, Emil drank a glass of his brother-in-law's beer. He didn't know how strong it was and so he went back to the nursery and slept for the long time.

When Emil woke up, the house was completely silent. Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps. A few minutes later, the door of the nursery opened. A man came in and looked very startled to see Emil.

"There's a kid in here!" he called to another man behind him. "Who is he?"

"I'm Emil Steilsson," Emil told him quietly. "Where is everyone?"

The other man came into the room. "He's been forgotten!" he said.

"Why was I forgotten?" Emil said, stamping his foot.

"Poor kid," the man whispered sadly. "There's nobody left. Your hemsire, your brothers, the servants – they've all died."

A week later, Emil was put on a ship sailing to Sweden. He was going to live with his…uncle? That's what everybody referred to him as. In reality he was a friend of his brothers, Berwald Oxenstierna, who lived at Tvillingblomma Manor. Mr Oxenstierna's housekeeper, Eduard von Bock, came to meet Emil in Stockholm. He was a simple-looking man with square glasses and a narrow face. Emil was wary of him – but then he was wary of everyone. Mr von Bock didn't think much of Emil.

"Well, you're a plain boy," he said to himself, "and your brother was so handsome. You probably won't improve much at Tvillingblomma Manor."

Emil was very curious about his new guardian. What was he like? Somebody in Denmark had told him that he was a fearsome man! What did they mean by that? He began to feel lonely. Why did he never seem to belong to anybody, even when his brothers were alive? Why did nobody take any notice of him? Of course, Emil didn't know the reason – that he didn't speak to anyone.

The next day, Mr von Bock and Emil set off by train for the manor. Emil had nothing to read – and he liked reading – so he sat quietly and looked out the window. His dark outfit made his skin look even paler and his silvery hair hid his violet eyes.

"Do you know anything about your uncle?" Mr von Bock asked.

"No," Emil replied.

"I should tell you," Mr von Bock said, "you're going to a…strange place."

Emil didn't respond.

"It's a grand house, in a gloomy sort of way," Mr von Bock carried on. "It's six hundred years old, and it's by a river. There's hundreds of rooms, though most of them are locked. There's gardens and trees, but not much else."

Emil began to listen. It sounded quite unlike his brothers' house in Denmark, which was on the outskirts of a city, and anything new interested him. But he didn't want to look interested. It would entice Mr von Bock into a longer conversation and Emil didn't feel comfortable enough around him.

"Well," Mr von Bock said. "What do you think of it?"

"It sounds fine," he replied.

"Don't you care?" Mr von Bock asked.

"It doesn't matter whether I care or not," Emil said.

"He can't speak verbs, Mr Oxenstierna," Mr von Bock said. "He was a scary man until he married. Mr Vainamoinen was such a sweet and pretty man. When he died… Well, nothing was the same. Mr Oxenstierna refuses to see people now. Most of the time he shuts himself up in his study."

None of this made Emil feel cheerful, though at least it made Mr von Bock stare wistfully into the distance for a while. He stared out of the window, his lips pinched together.

"There's nothing for you to do there," Mr von Bock said, mostly trapped in his memories. "You'll have to entertain yourself."

A carriage met them at the railway station. When they had passed through many villages, the horses began to go more slowly, as if they were climbing uphill. Emil could see nothing except the yellow light of the carriage. The wind whistled past them in the darkness.

'I don't like it," Emil thought. 'I don't like it."

And he wrapped his hands together as tightly as he could.

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**A/N: Mary Lennox (aka, Emil Steilsson) was nine when her parents (not brother and brother-in-law) died. Iceland's canon age is 16-17, so that's what I'm basing the ages on. Sweden and Estonia are older than in canon, but that's to fit in with the rest of the story. Just image them as being in their early-to-mid thirties.**


	2. A Cry in the Night

When Emil opened his eyes in the morning, it was because a young housemaid had come into his bedroom to light a fire. Emil hid under his covers. He had never been in such a gloomy room. Back in Denmark, his brother-in-law always kept the house bright and cheerful with his parties. Through the window, he caught sight of a stretch of land. It had no trees and looked as endless as the sea.

"What's out there?" he thought, aloud.

"The gardens," the housemaid told him. "Do you like it?"

Emil jumped slightly, not expecting to have an answer. "I…I don't understand you…" he answered.

"I come from China. I have an accent," the girl laughed. "Do you like the view?"

"Not really," Emil answered.

"You're just not used to it," the girl said. "My name's Mei."

"Are you meant to be my servant?" Emil asked, wondering why he didn't have a male servant.

"I'm a general servant," Mei answered firmly. "I do a lot of housework, including yours."

Emil nodded and got out of bed to get dressed. Mei didn't leave.

"Could…could you leave? I want to get dressed."

Mei laughed. "Sorry, I'm used to being dismissed." And she left.

At breakfast, which was porridge that Emil didn't like, Mei talked about her brothers and sister, especially Leon, one of her brothers, who was the one closest in age to her.

"He's sixteen, but he's really smart," Mei said, "he's was taught the name of every bird and animal around here by a schoolmaster."

After breakfast, Emil glanced around him. Mr von Bock was right. There was nothing to do, and Mei had work so she couldn't stay with him.

"I'm going into the garden," he told Mei.

He found a coat, boots and gloves that were his size. They were rather fancy but Emil liked them. Before he left, Mei warned him that "One of the gardens is locked up, so don't try to get in."

"Why?" Emil asked, in spite of himself.

"Mr Oxenstierna had it locked up when his wife," she chuckled a bit at this, "died ten years ago. It was his garden. Mr Oxenstierna threw away the key and nobody can find it."

Emil walked across the wide lawns until he came to the kitchen gardens, surrounded by walls. He opened a blue door in one of the walls and found himself in an orchard, full of bare fruit trees. Beyond the orchard was another wall, but with no door. The tops of trees showed above the wall. When Emil stood still, he saw a bird with black and white feathers sitting on one of the branches. Suddenly, it started to sing. The sound almost brought a smile to Emil's face.

Emil went back to the first of the kitchen gardens and found a man digging there. He took no notice of Emil, so Emil didn't speak to him. But then the man said, "There's no door to the garden up there," he smiled. "The puffin likes you."

He made a low, soft whistle. Almost the next moment, Emil heard a soft rushing through the air. It was the bird with the black and white feathers. It settled on the ground next to the gardener.

"Will it always come when you call him?" Emil whispered.

"Yep, he will," the gardener said. "He's a puffin. I call him Mr Puffin. Bit of a moody bird, but I think he'd lonely. He lives in the garden behind the wall."

"I'm lonely, too," Emil said. "I haven't got any friends. I never had." He hadn't known until that moment that wasn't a good thing.

"Then I'm sure Mr Puffin will be your friend. I'll always be here to talk to you, as well," the gardener said. "I'm Alfred."

Emil went outside every day after that. The fresh air made him feel relaxed and feel better about himself. He found that he could speak to Mr Puffin, which made Alfred laugh and say that he was like a schoolmaster he knew. When Emil sat down to eat in the evening, he found that he was hungrier than usual. He even got used to the sound of the wind roaring and rushing around the house.

One night, as Emil sat with Mei, as had become a routine by this point, he heard a strange sound. "Can you hear a child crying?" he asked.

"No," Mei replied, worried. "It's just the wind."

"But listen," Emil said. "It's in the house-" At that very moment, the wind forced open the door, blowing out the candle. The crying filled the room.

"See!" Emil cried. "I told you! There's someone crying, and it's not an adult!"

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**A/N: Just so you know, the reason why I haven't specified Denmark and Norway's names is because there's debate in the fan community on what their human names are. For me Denmark's name is either Matthias Kohler (a fanon name) or Simon Densen (which is actually a canon name for him), and Norway's is Lukas Bondevik. Emil will refer to them collectively as his brothers, Lukas as his brother when only referring to him, and Matthias/Simon as his brother-in-law when only referring to him. I hope this clears up any possible confusion.**


	3. The Secret Garden

It rained for the next two days. Then the clouds slowly disappeared. Emil loved the blue sky, it reminded him of his brother's eyes. His were once compared to the setting sun, which was the nicest compliment he had ever been given.

Mei had the day off to visit her family. Emil was lonely without her so he went out into the garden. The sunshine made the whole place look different. The high, deep blue sky arched over Tvillingblomma Manor, as well as over the gardens. The change in the weather had made Alfred even more cheerful, if that were possible.

"Spring's coming," he said. "Can ya smell it?"

Emil sniffed the air. "I can smell something nice, fresh and damp." He said.

"That's the earth," he said, digging away. "They'll be new flowers, soon."

Mr Puffin flew down and landed on Emil's shoulder. He flinched but didn't chase the bird away.

"He wanted to be your friend," Alfred told him.

Emil walked on, with Mr Puffin on his shoulders, thinking hard. He had begun to like the garden just as he had begun to like Mr Puffin and Mei – and Leon and their other siblings, although he hadn't met them yet. It seemed like a lot of people to like when you weren't used to liking anyone at all.

He stopped outside the wall of the locked garden. He heard Mr Puffin chirping and realised that he had flown off his shoulder and was peaking at the earth. Emil stared into the earth. Something was buried there, something made of brass. He bent down to look. It was an old key.

"Is…is this the key to the garden?" he asked Mr Puffin, who didn't respond. "May as well look for the door in case it is."

But he couldn't find it. However closely he looked, he could only see the thick ivy growing all over the wall. At last he put the key in his pocket and went indoors. Mei was back and had brought a present for Mei. It was a strong, thin rope with a stripped brown and purple handle at each end. A skipping rope. Emil stared at it.

"Who's it for?" he asked.

Mei giggled. "It's for you, silly! It was mine when I was young. I thought you could have it." She handed the skipping rope to Emil. "My brother Yao says that you must practise first, until you get some strength into your arms and legs," she said. "Kiku said it would be good for you."

Emil took the rope and turned to go back outside. He thought a skipping rope was a rather girly toy – one he was much too old for – but he didn't want to disappoint Mei after being given one of her belongings. He skipped around the garden, resting every few minutes. Mr Puffin followed, and Emil had a suspicion that the bird was laughing at him. Every time he jumped, he felt the weight of the key in his pocket.

"You showed me where the key was," Emil called out to Mr Puffin. "Show me the door to the garden!"

Emil always said that what happened next was magic, the kind his brother often talked about. As he spoke, a gust of wind blew the trailing ivy on the wall of the secret garden. Emil caught sight of the handle of a door. He drew out the key from his pocket and found that it fitted the keyhole. He turned the key. Then he pushed open the door slowly.

He was now standing inside the secret garden.


End file.
